A gem! Anna Hills (1882-1930) "Sunshine & Shadow -Red Rock" Canyon" Watercolor on paper, Signed lower left AA Hills. Image: 5"h x 7"w Framed: 12 1/2"h x 14"w Anna Althea Hills was active/lived in California and Ohio. She is known for landscape, marine, genre and figure painting. Born January 28, 1882 in Ravenna, Ohio. She studied at the Chicago Art Institute; Cooper Union Art School in New York City; she worked with Arthur Dow (1857-1922) and later studied at the Academie Julian in Paris. While in Europe she studied with John Noble Barlow (186111917). In 1912 she moved to Laguna Beach California becoming a leading member of the Laguna Beach art community. She was an active member of the California Art Club, held a membership at the Washington Watercolor Club and served at the Laguna Beach Art Association as president from 1922-1925 and from 1927-1930. Hills was highly regarded as an art teacher and encouraged the study of visual arts at the local public schools. Captivated and inspired by her new surroundings, she created atmospheric impressionist landscapes showing a reverence and appreciation of nature. The subjects of her plein-air landscapes varied from treescapes, the Laguna coastline, Mission San Juan Capistrano, the vast Southern California and Arizona deserts, Santa Ana Canyon, arroyos and interior scenes. Hill won the Bronze Medal at the Panama-California Exposition, San Diego in 1915; the Bronze Medal at the California State Fair, 1919; and the Landscape Prize at the Laguna Beach Art Association, 1922;1923. She died at the early age of 48 on June 13, 1930 in Laguna Beach.